Drawing the layout
The Draw workspace builds the network the vehicles drive on: paths, stations and their roles, links, traffic zones and annotations. Every change applies immediately and can be undone; Save writes it to the project file.
The tool rail
Tools are grouped in the rail on the left of the canvas. Numbers are keyboard shortcuts, printed on each button in the order they appear.
| Group | Tool | Key | Use it to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edit | Select | 1 | Select stations, links, zones and annotations; drag rectangles; move groups. |
| Edit | Edit | 2 | Select path geometry directly (even under links) and drag its handles. |
| Edit | Pan | 3 | Drag the view with the left button. |
| Draw | Path | 4 | Straight path: two clicks. |
| Draw | Curve | 5 | Quadratic curve: start, control, end. |
| Draw | S-curve | 6 | Cubic curve: A, C1, C2, B. |
| Annotate | Measure | — | A persistent dimension between two points. |
| Annotate | Text | — | A text label placed on the plan. |
| Connect | Station | 7 | Place a station on a path. |
| Connect | Link | 8 | Create a route from a source station to a destination station. |
| Connect | Zone | 9 | Draw an exclusive traffic zone rectangle. |
| Floor plan | Layers | — | Click a CAD element to toggle its layers (only with an accelerated vector background). |
Press Esc to cancel a drawing in progress or a drag. Delete removes the selection. Shortcuts are ignored while you type in a text field.
Drawing paths
Straight paths
With Path, click the start point and move the cursor: a dashed preview shows the path and its length in millimetres. Click again to finish. The tool stays active, so you can draw the next path right away.
- Ortho: the Ortho button in the canvas toolbar (or F8) constrains each path to 0°, 90°, 180° or 270°. Holding Ctrl does the same temporarily.
- Grid: away from other paths, endpoints follow a 100 mm grid.
- Coordinates: the status bar under the canvas shows the real X/Y position of the cursor.
Curves and S-curves
Curve draws a quadratic Bézier: click the start, the control point and the end. The preview shows the curve before you confirm.
S-curve draws a cubic Bézier with two control points: click A (start), C1, C2 and B (end). While you choose B, the dashed curve and its length are shown. For an S shape, put C1 and C2 on opposite sides of the line A–B; other cubic shapes are allowed too.
Snapping
Endpoints and new stations snap to existing paths within 6 screen pixels, with priority to endpoints. A small yellow square shows the snap point. Control points (C, C1, C2) are always free: no snapping and no grid, and Ortho does not lock them; Ctrl constrains them to the axes.
How paths connect
Two paths are connected when an endpoint of one lies on the other: end to end, or end on the middle of another path (a T-junction). Paths that simply cross each other in the middle are not connected. Start new paths on the snap square to be sure they join.
Draw the main loop first, then branches, starting each branch on the loop. Use Fit to frame the drawing; the view never moves by itself while you draw.
Path properties
Select a path to edit it in Properties:
- Type (read-only): line, curve (quadratic Bézier) or S-curve (cubic Bézier). To change the shape, use the Edit tool.
- Travel direction: Both · A ↔ B, A to B · start → end or B to A · end → start. Arrows on the selected path show the direction. See One-way paths.
- Segment speed (cm/s): untick Use default speed to give this path its own speed.
- Blocked path: excludes the path from routing.
Stations and roles
With Station, click on or next to a path: the station snaps onto it. A station cannot exist away from a path. New stations have no role and appear as a grey dot.
| Role | Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| No role | Grey dot | A point on the network, useful as a link endpoint. |
| Pickup | Triangle | Orders load material here. |
| Drop | Inverted triangle | Orders unload material here. |
| Pickup + Drop | Diamond | Both roles, for example a buffer or a machine with input and output. |
| Charger | Filled circle in a square | AGVs start, park and recharge here. |
| Parking location | Filled square with a hollow circle | AGVs start and park here, but do not recharge. |
| Blocked | — | The station cannot be used by the simulation. |
Roles are independent checkboxes. When several are ticked, the symbol shows Charger first, then Parking, then Pickup/Drop. The station inspector also has Name, Angle (the initial heading of an AGV starting there, in degrees counter-clockwise from +X) and the read-only ID of the path it sits on. To move a station, drag it: it slides along its path.
Each AGV needs its own unblocked Charger or Parking location, spaced at least the scenario's minimum distance from the others. For three AGVs you need at least three such stations. See Fleet.
Selecting and editing
Select
Click an object to select it and open its properties. Select gives priority to stations and links; Alt+click selects the path underneath. When several links overlap at the clicked point, a small picker asks which one you want.
Rectangle selection
With Select, drag on an empty area:
- left → right (blue rectangle): selects objects entirely inside;
- right → left (dashed green rectangle): also selects objects crossing the rectangle.
Shift while dragging adds to the current selection; Shift+click adds or removes a single object. Stations are selected by position; labels and the CAD background are never selected.
Moving objects
Drag any highlighted object to move the whole selection. Ctrl constrains the move to one axis, Esc cancels it. The multiple-selection inspector also accepts a numeric Offset and offers Delete selection.
- Paths carry their stations with them.
- Moving a link also moves its paths and attached stations.
- A station selected without its path slides along its own path.
- Unselected neighbouring paths stay in place: check the links at the boundary afterwards.
Edit: reshaping paths
With Edit (2) you select path geometry directly, even under stations and links. A line shows its A/B handles; a curve also shows C1/C2.
- Drag the body of the path to move it together with its stations; attached endpoints of neighbouring paths follow the junction.
- Drag A or B to move an endpoint: light 6 px snapping, no grid, Ctrl/Ortho constrain the axis.
- Drag C1 or C2 to change the curvature. They are free; Ctrl constrains C1 relative to A and C2 relative to B.
- The preview updates live; releasing the mouse commits one history step; Esc cancels.
Stations on an edited path follow its new shape. Crossings in the middle of paths are not re-evaluated automatically: after a large edit, check that links still resolve.
Finding objects
The Objects tab lists Paths, Stations, Link, Zones and Annotations. Search by ID or name (for links also by source or destination) and click a result to select it and open its properties; Shift+click adds it to the selection. The list shows the first 80 matches.
Measurements and text
The Annotate group adds information that stays on the plan but never takes part in routing, snapping or traffic.
- Measure: click two points. The distance stays drawn on the plan in mm or metres. Ortho and Ctrl constrain the second point to the nearest axis; coordinates are never rounded to the grid.
- Text: click where the text goes, then edit it in Properties: text (multi-line), size in mm, font (sans serif, serif, monospace), bold, italic and colour.
After creating an annotation the tool returns to Select. Drag annotations to move them, drag the endpoints of a measurement to change it, and press Delete to remove them. Annotations are saved in the project and remain visible in Simulate. Moving or scaling the CAD background does not move them.
Undo, redo and cancelling
- Every completed gesture (a path, a drag, a property change) is one undo step: Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y.
- Previews are never recorded: Esc cancels the gesture in progress without leaving traces.
- An invalid value typed in a property stays visible and blocks Save until you correct it or press Esc.